Central vacuum cleaning systems are becoming more common in residential housing. Essentially, a central vacuum cleaning system comprises a vacuum pump, located in a remote location in a residential unit, such as in the basement or in the garage, together with plastic piping which extends beneath the floor and between the walls to various locations within the residential unit. At the terminus of the vacuum piping is located an inlet valve assembly. The inlet valve assembly allows a person desiring to use the central vacuum system to attach a hose-cuff on a portable vacuum hose to the vacuum system.
In the past, inlet valve assemblies have been formed with low voltage electrical contacts. Typically a flexible hose, with a vacuum-head attached, is connected to the inlet valve assembly. Most typically, the hose-cuff includes an electrical contact-plate which completes a low voltage electrical circuit either automatically or through a manual switch to cause the vacuum motor to be turned on when the hose-cuff is placed in the inlet valve assembly.
More recently, home owners have indicated a preference for power-head attachments to facilitate effective vacuuming and cleaning. A power-head requires a high voltage circuit and is typically accessed by means of an extension cord which extends between the power head and the nearest adjacent electrical wall receptacle. However, this is inconvenient and awkward since the extension cord may extend a different length and in a different direction than the vacuum hose connected to the inlet valve assembly.
Most recently, attempts have been made to develop an inlet valve assembly which includes a high voltage electrical receptacle as part of the assembly. In this manner power and suction can be delivered to the power head through an integral hose and power cord. In particular, Hayden, in Canadian Patent No. 1,267,174 proposes a current carrying inlet valve for a central vacuum system. However, this prior device has several disadvantages. Firstly, this prior inlet valve assembly includes a inlet face plate, a mounting plate, and a wiring compartment. The wiring compartment must be specially formed to avoid interfering with the vacuum tubing. Manual access to the wiring compartment can be awkward.
A greater disadvantage of this device however relates to its installation. In a typical new home installation, an electrician would rough in the wiring, including roughly locating electrical junction boxes and electrical receptacle boxes in positions on various studs. Then, central vacuum installers would arrive, and install the vacuum piping with an appropriate mounting plate to locate the ends of the piping adjacent or near the roughed in electrical receptacles. Then, the electrician would return and extend wires from electrical receptacles into the electrical wiring compartment associated with this prior device. Then, the dry waller would drywall over the studs leaving appropriate openings for the electrical receptacle box and for the mounting plate for the central vacuum system. Then, the electricians have to return again to wire a high voltage electrical receptacle into the wiring compartment associated with the vacuum valve assembly. Such multiple attendances by an electrician is both wasteful and expensive.